chapter Thirty-Seven
The chronolog took them back through time, and as they moved through the passages, Lawson could see places that looked familiar. The monastery, in Venice. France, with the enormous carved stones. He stopped in front of a house that looked more familiar than most.
"I'm sorry, I thought we were going back to the serpent mound," Bliss said. "But this thing seems to have a mind of its own."
Lawson looked at the structure in front of them. It was half-built, with only the foundation and the wood frame. He hadn't recognized it at first, but now he did. "Can you take us here, only closer to the present? A week before we met?"
"I can help," Malcolm said, and showed Bliss how to set the chronolog again.
Again they moved through time, but more quickly. Probably because they didn't have far to go, Lawson figured. The passages finally landed them where he wanted to be.
"Where are we?" Bliss asked. "Is this where we're supposed to go?"
"That's the house," he said, pointing to an ordinary-looking brown house at the end of a familiar cul-de-sac. There was a foreclosure sign on the front lawn. "Look, we'd just arrived, the curtains aren't up yet. Remember those, Mac?"
"I remember," Malcolm said quietly.
"Lawson, we need to keep moving," Bliss said. "Marrok might need our help."
"Hold on just a moment," he said excitedly. "See, we can change what happened. I can leave a message - tell them to run. Tell myself to run. So they won't stay here. Then the hounds won't come and Tala will be alive. She'll be alive." Lawson turned to them, his eyes shining.
But his brothers just shook their heads. Ahramin was mute, hesitant.
"Bliss ... you understand, help me. Help me do this."
"No, Lawson." Her tone was kind, but firm. "You know the rules. You're a Praetorian. You can't change the past. You can't change what's happened. Time must be allowed to flow, and the course of history must remain unchanged. You told me that."
"No, not in this instance. No."
"You've got to let her go, Lawson. It's the only way you're going to be able to move forward," Bliss said. She put a hand on his arm. "I know you loved her, but you've got to say goodbye."
Lawson closed his eyes. Bliss was right. Of course she was right. He couldn't change what had happened, not if he wanted to remain true to what he was, to what Tala had loved about him from the start.
With tears in his eyes, he watched as the door opened and Tala appeared in the doorway. He felt his heart swell with love and sadness.
Tala looked across the way, almost as if she were looking right at him, but he knew she couldn't see him.
She had a smile on her face. She was happy. They'd been happy for a while in that little brown house. A bright and peaceful happiness after the darkness of their life in the underworld. It hadn't lasted very long, but Lawson would treasure that love; he wouldn't let his love destroy him. He would let it make him stronger.
Tala.
She was so beautiful and kind. She loved him so much.
Every moment in time happened all at the same moment. That was the way of it in the Passages of Time. There was no past and no future, only an endless present. And in this moment, Tala was alive, and Tala was happy. He would have this moment forever, he realized. It was not lost; he could return to it, again and again, in his memory. It would sustain him. He thought of Bliss, who had suffered a loss as well. I lost someone too, and he's gone, she'd said. I have to let go. He would be strong for her, he thought. He would move on, like she had.
Tala, I love you. Goodbye.
Why, Lawson, where are you going?
He recoiled. She had heard him. She looked out into the darkness with a frown on her face. Then she turned around and there he was. The Lawson from the past was standing behind her. He put his arms around her and they kissed.
Lawson remembered that kiss.
It had been a good one.
"Lawson, we've set the coordinates," Bliss said. "We're ready to go."
He turned away from the house and followed his pack down the passage.